On the heels of a victory over a nationally ranked team, the Illinois State baseball team is set to welcome the Central Michigan Chippewas to Redbird Field for a three game series this weekend. It will be the first Illinois State home game in 2004.
It sure will be good to be home, said head coach Jim Brownlee. We have a lot of new players and it will be their first time stepping on the field as Redbirds, so it should be exciting.
Illinois State (4-6) defeated No. 26 Missouri 5-2 in 11 innings on Wednesday in Columbia, Mo. Brownlee feels that win may give his team some momentum.
That was as big a win as weve had since Ive been here, said Brownlee following Wednesday nights game. We played the way we were capable of playing and hopefully that continues.
Central Michigan (4-9) comes into the series having played all of their games on the road, much like Illinois State.
Theyre a MAC team and they swing the bat pretty well, said Brownlee. Like every game, if we dont come to play, well get beat.
Brownlee has set the probable starting pitching rotation as junior Ned Schauff (0-1) on Friday, junior Kyle Bloom (1-1) on Saturday and freshman Eric Theisen (0-1) on Sunday.
Fridays game will begin at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday and Sundays games will start at 1:00 p.m.
Saturdays game will be available on www.wjbc2.com and Sundays game will be on AM 1230 WJBC and www.wjbc.com. Russ Eisenstein has the call of the game.
